Chrome Adds New Security-Related Features To Prevent Deceptive Mobile Subscriptions

Google just revealed that Chrome would soon be getting a brand new feature that will stop mobile subscription scams.

These are the kind of websites that ask for users’ phone numbers, and then they sign you up without your knowledge for a mobile subscription that is billed via the carrier of users.

Chrome 71 will warn users about deceptive websites

Starting with the launch of Chrome 71 back in December, Google will pop up a visible warning when a particular site does not make it clear that users are signing up for a mobile subscription.

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“Google is adding a new Billing category to Safe Browsing that keeps track of sites that perform deceptive billing signups.

When Chrome mobile, desktop, and Android WebView users visit a page that has been flagged as deceptive, they will be shown a warning interstitial that states “The page ahead may try to charge you money,”” Bleeping Computer announced.

In order to make sure that developers who are legitimately using this flow to provide users a subscription will not get caught up in this new system.

The tech giant –published a set of best practices for mobile billing, announces TechCrunch.

The billing data will be made visible

Usually, developers are expected to make the billing data visible and obvious enough to users, and also display the actual cost and have a simple fee structure.

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If the data is not available, Google will throw a full-page warning, but users can always opt out and proceed as well.

Before Google throws the warning page, the tech giant will notify webmasters in the Search Console when it finds a potential scam.

It’s also important to know that there are high chances of false positives as well, so this also has to be taken into consideration.

TechCrunch announced that the new feature would become available on desktop and mobile and in Android’s WebView.

After finishing Theatrical Journalism at the Faculty of Theatre and Television in Cluj-Napoca, Rada reviewed movies, books, theatre pieces and she also wrote articles from the IT niche as a content editor for software producers. At the moment, she is working with various online advertising firms.